NORTHPORT, Alabama – More than 80 people gathered to discuss, celebrate and practice the right to
bear arms over plates of barbecue Monday night in Northport.

Some discussed the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman,
who was found not guilty Saturday in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin
in Sanford, Fla., and speculated on how it might affect the future of stand-your-ground laws and self-defense cases. Others talked about the politics of
gun ownership and gun control, from the local level to the state legislature
all the way to the federal government.

Still, others avoided politics and discussed the difference in the feel of a
Generation 3 Glock and the newer Generation 4, the merits of 9-millimeter
rounds against 45-caliber bullets and whether it was better to carry guns
openly and visibly, which is legal in the state of Alabama with or without a
sheriff-issued permit, or to conceal firearms on your person, which requires a
license from local law enforcement officials.

The meeting at Dreamland BBQ was hosted by the Tuscaloosa chapter
of Bama Carry, a Second
Amendment activist group promoting the legal and safe ownership and everyday
carrying of firearms in the state.

Conservative radio show host John Fisher and Alabama state Sen. Gerald Allen
both briefly addressed the crowd.
Fisher called for education and clear understanding on the difference between
rights and laws, then asked for vigilance and more educated voting from the
conservative community.

"As a country, we're in trouble," Fisher said. "Good's become
bad and bad has become good, and I want to ask everyone to stay vigilant and
stay involved."

Fisher said Americans faced an ever-present threat to their right to bear arms,
and it would take diligence to preserve that right.

"The right to defend ourselves is not given to us by men; that's a
God-given right," Fisher said. "We're warriors, that's what he made
us to be, and the right to defend ourselves doesn't come from the federal
government, it comes from him. We need to remember that. We need to know what
rights are, and know that they belong to us."

Allen's message centered on his fundamental support of the right to bear arms
and his plans to attract a major ammunition manufacturer to build a plant in
the state. He also said the voter identification laws passed in the state in
2011 that will go into effect in 2014 would soon be targeted by U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama.

Allen fielded questions from the audience, including one from a man who asked
if he believed the federal government was buying and stockpiling ammunition to
keep it off the shelves so regular citizens would be left unarmed. The senator
said he believed that theory.

"I agree with that," Allen said. "And what's more, they have
enough ammo for now and forever, they've got tons. In my opinion, there is a
well thought-through conspiracy to purchase all the ammo they can purchase, and
at the same time do a lot more that we don't even know about."

Allen said the nation's earliest ideals and its Constitution were what made it
great, and said the modern U.S. is moving further away from each every day.

"What if tonight, we walked George Washington through that door and stood
him up and told him what was going on in this country?" Allen asked.
"You think he'd believe it?"

Bama Carry has a Facebook
following of nearly 3,700 people who engage each other every day online to
discuss guns, politics and current events. The group also raffled off a
camouflage bolt-action Savage Arms rifle and held a small-scale canned goods
drive at its monthly meeting.